6 Exotic Diseases That Could Come to a Town Near You

Ebola virus.Scott Camazine/Photo Researchers, Inc.A virus from Africa that emerges in Italy, a parasite restricted to Latin America that emerges in Europe and Japan—infectious diseases that were once confined to distinct regions of the world are showing up in unexpected places. If the exotic invaders on this list haven’t appeared yet in a town near you, they may do so soon, courtesy of increased human travel and climate change—two factors thought to play a major role in the spread of infectious agents and the animals that carry them.

Bird flu

Bird flu, or avian influenza, occurs naturally in wild birds and can be contracted by poultry and other domestic birds, as well as by humans. The most deadly variety of the disease is caused by influenza virus H5N1, which is transmitted to humans from infected birds. However, H5N1 could evolve into a strain that is capable of sustained human-to-human transmission. If that were to happen, it could lead to a deadly pandemic. For now, H5N1 continues to be spread mainly through the sale and distribution of poultry. Bird flu produces a variety of symptoms in humans, from those that resemble conjunctivitis or influenza to those indicative of pneumonia, respiratory failure, or acute respiratory distress, which can be fatal. From 2003 to 2013, more than 640 human cases of bird flu were reported, about 60 percent of which ended in death.

Sleeping sickness

Tsetse fly (Glossina brevipalpis).Anthony Bannister—NHPA/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is caused by infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, which is found in West and Central Africa, or the closely related subspecies T. brucei rhodesiense, which is found in East Africa. Past changes in the geographic distribution of tsetse flies, which transmit the protozoans to humans and which are highly responsive to shifts in environmental temperature, led to severe epidemics. Scientists have predicted that over the next century, climate warming could result in significant range shifts for T. brucei rhodesiense in particular, leading to a marked increase in the number of people exposed to the East African form of the disease. An estimated 30,000 people are thought to be affected by sleeping sickness, though as many as 70 million may be at risk. Characterized by a long and sometimes asymptomatic first stage, the protozoans eventually cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to confusion, loss of coordination, and sleep cycle disturbance. If left untreated, infected individuals will die.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a tickborne disease of ruminants that can be transmitted to humans. It was first discovered in Crimea in 1944, and then in the Congo in 1956. It subsequently was determined to be endemic to Africa, the Middle East, the Balkan Peninsula, and Asia. The northern geographic boundary of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is marked by cold, mountainous areas, which limit the range of Hyalomma ticks, the major vectors of the disease. Predicted climate scenarios suggest, however, that warmer conditions could allow the ticks to invade new areas, thereby expanding the already wide distribution of this deadly disease, which kills between 10 and 40 percent of those who become infected. Symptoms progress from fever and headache to vomiting and abdominal pain to confusion and sleepiness. Sudden liver or pulmonary failure and kidney deterioration can result in death.

Chikungunya fever

Aedes aegypti mosquitoAedes aegypti mosquito, a carrier of yellow fever and dengue.Paul I. Howell, MPH; Prof. Frank Hadley Collins/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Image Number: 9534)Chikungunya fever was first recorded in 1952–53 in an outbreak on Africa’s Makonde plateau. Several years later, the disease emerged in Southeast Asia, and in the early 2000s it was detected on islands in the western Indian Ocean. In 2007 it appeared for the first time in Europe, causing illness in more than 200 people in Ravenna, Italy. The virus likely was carried to Ravenna by a person who had recently visited an affected area of India. The outbreak in Europe was unexpected, since the region’s temperate climate was thought to provide a barrier against the invasion of Aedes mosquitoes, which transmit chikungunya virus. Although rarely life-threatening, chikungunya fever can cause severe joint and muscle pain. The contorted posture of its victims is captured in the Kimakonde translation of chikungunya, which means “that which bends up.”

Chagas disease

Chagas disease vector: Triatoma infestansTriatoma infestans, a vector for Chagas disease.World Health Organization/CDCThe protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, the cause of Chagas disease, was limited historically to rural Latin America. But increased migration of infected people into urban areas in Mexico and Central and South America—as well as into the United States and other countries, particularly those in Europe—has facilitated the spread of the disease. Chagas disease is transmitted mainly by bloodsucking “kissing bugs,” but various domestic and wild animals, including cats, dogs, guinea pigs, raccoons, skunks, and armadillos, participate in the transmission cycle. Other means of transmission include blood transfusion, placental transmission, or consumption of contaminated food. Chagas disease affects between seven million and eight million people worldwide. And while many of those people may experience no or only mild symptoms, such as headache and swollen lymph glands, others, particularly those who do not receive treatment, experience chronic infection. In the chronic state, the parasites become permanent residents of the heart and digestive muscles, leading to the progressive deterioration of those tissues.

West Nile virus

West Nile virusColourized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of West Nile virus.P.E. Rollin, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; photograph, Cynthia GoldsmithWest Nile virus first appeared in the United States in 1999, when a case was reported in New York City. In the following years, it spread across much of the country and into Canada and the Caribbean. In 2013 it was responsible for 88 American deaths, out of 2,170 reported cases, and its prevalence was expected to grow, as climate change models predicted a lengthening of the mosquito (carrier) season across many areas. The strain of West Nile virus that emerged in the United States matched a virus that had been circulating in Israel and Tunisia. Although asymptomatic in most people, about 20 percent of those who are infected develop flu-like symptoms and less than one percent develop severe neurologic illness, sometimes leading to permanent cognitive and motor deficits or even death.